Birding skills honed

January 23, 2019

Blue jays, robins, cardinals, chickadees. Preprimary students have become avid birdwatchers and budding ornithologists as they focus their binoculars on birds visiting the Preprimary Woods. While indoors, students study bird songs and bird nests, marveling at the savviness of these creatures and their nest-building skills. Students showcase a bit of their own resourcefulness as they repurpose orange-rind cups as receptacles to be filled with birdseed to be strung in the trees along with garland-threaded popcorn and dried cranberries.

The children have been learning a lot about birds – even creating a sequencing work that shows a bird’s life cycle. They were surprised to hear how different birdsongs are from one another. Students study in pairs and take turns being the one to close her eyes or to activate each bird-species’ song by squeeze-prompting the toy bird to sing.

Students spot birds in pictures that have been hidden around the room and they mark each bird type off their bird-counting tally on their clipboard. This activity is perfect for visual discrimination and for recognizing differences in birds. Another work that focuses birders’ attention on differences in wing, head, tail and body color is the magnetic work which requires students to follow the printed pattern as they build the pieces of the birds to match the picture.

Upcoming Events

Music and dance combine in this event to create an enjoyable evening of student work in the performing arts. Teachers Melissa Robinson and Jeanne Speier, have been leading the children in preparation for this event.

Music and dance combine in this event to create an enjoyable morning of student work in the performing arts. Teachers Melissa Robinson and Jeanne Speier, have been leading the children in preparation for this event.

Children in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade spend a portion of each day this week taking a section of the TerraNova Test. This is the only standardized test given during the year. Taking the TerraNova serves as a practical life tool but also identifies student performance toward mastery of specific content objectives. It’s important to note that children’s academic progress is based on a number of factors that include, but are not limited to, the TerraNova test alone.